As anyone who has worked on a presidential campaign knows, there is always an undercurrent of trepidation that the candidate or a trusted advisor will say or do something that connects in a very negative way with the vast majority of voters.
As we witnessed, Hilary Rosen, a Democratic strategist, recently created one of those self-inflicted and lasting wounds when she said on CNN that Ann Romney had "actually never worked a day in her life."
Whoops. The Obama White House and campaign came down on Rosen's head like a ton of bricks. From President Obama to his top advisors, all immediately declared that Rosen should apologize and that family should always be "off limits."
They did this not so much because they believed it or because it was the right thing to do, but rather because they were petrified that Rosen's ignorant and idiotic comment would offend millions of voters they will need come November.
OK, President Obama and his team now have vigorously and repeatedly declared that the families and spouses of a candidate should forever more be "off limits."
Next, President Obama and his team should just as vigorously declare that a candidate's faith should be "off limits."
They should, but they won't.
Why?
Because the Obama White House and campaign are counting on the smear-merchants from the left to continually target Mitt Romney's faith from now to Election Day. Not only are they counting on them to engage in this un-American attack, but they need the haters in the far-left media, in Hollywood, in the music business and in education to do their dirty work.
Again, why?
Because they can add and subtract. The Obama campaign knows that one of the reasons President Obama won in 2008 was that from 2004 to 2008 between 3 million and 4 million Republicans decided to stay home and did not vote. As Obama won several states by razor-thin margins and as his campaign knows he is suffering from an "enthusiasm gap" from some of his previous supporters, they are going to need to suppress the Romney vote in 2012.
* * * * *How? Among other things, by creating doubts and false impressions about Romney's faith.
For the moment, it seems that Maureen Dowd of The New York Times has been handed the baton and is leading the smear parade for the far left. She has already written several columns that have questioned Mitt Romney and his faith. Columns that have been reprinted in hundreds of newspapers and have been quoted on numerous shows.
While Dowd is proudly carrying the Bigot Baton, others from the far left are quickly sprinting to her side.
Jeffrey Weiss, a liberal and an alleged "Religion" columnist with RealClearPolitics, recently attacked Romney by saying, "It is past time for Mitt Romney to address relevant questions about his religion." Really? Does Weiss then have an obligation to "address relevant questions about his religion?"
Beyond Dowd and Weiss, we have the foul-mouthed Bill Maher of far-left HBO saying Romney's faith "was so ridiculous that even Tom Cruise wouldn't join it."
Always on the verge of bursting a blood vessel, big talking head Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC declares that much of Romney's religion is "made up."
Recently, the liberal Al Hunt of the equally liberal Bloomberg "News" wrote a two-for-one column in which he not only tried to amplify those doubts about Romney's faith, but belittled Evangelical Christians at the same time. How proud he must be.
* * * * *CNN recently ran a segment that showed pictures of Mitt Romney, Harry Reid, Gladys Knight and a few others and asked, "What do they all have in common? Answer: They are all Mormons."
Are you kidding me? What an amazing coincidence that CNN would pick the Mormon faith to single out during a presidential campaign.
Now, Montana Democrat Gov. Brian Schweitzer has shamefully waded into the smear-the-Mormon-faith cesspool.
Enough.
President Obama has declared families and spouses of candidates "off limits."
He must now personally and publicly call off Schweitzer and his other corrupt supporters from the left who are eagerly and continually targeting Romney's faith.
If he does not, Obama merely confirms his campaign strategy.